Name: Mini Brochettes with Spicy Thai Dip
Yield: Makes 24
Ingredients: 24 x 12-15cm wooden skewer s; 2 tsp coriander seeds; 500g minced pork; 1 garlic clove , crushed, 2cm piece of ginger , peeled and finely chopped; 1 stalk of lemongrass , finely chopped; 20g pack fresh coriander , roughly chopped; 2-3 tsp Thai red curry paste; 2 tsp tomato purée; 200ml carton coconut cream; 1 tsp light muscovado sugar; ¼ tsp Thai fish sauce or soy sauce; ½ lime , juice only

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,038 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Coriander + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together3,967 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Coriander + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together6,474 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, pork, garlic, clove, ginger, tomato, cream):

Limebetter flavor fit
Avocadobetter flavor fit
Lemonabout as good a flavor fit
Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, pork, garlic, clove, ginger, tomato, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

Mini Brochettes with Spicy Thai Dip